M23 rebels have seized east DRC’s two biggest cities since January in an escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spill over into DRC of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.

The DRC’s government and M23 pledged in a statement released on Wednesday after talks in Qatar to work towards peace, raising a glimmer of hope in the latest cycle of violence.

Douglas Dunia Masumbuko, the M23-appointed South Kivu governor, told Reuters on Thursday that the death toll at the Luhihi mine had reached 10 “and could rise given the number of injuries.”

He blamed the incident on “uncontrolled construction and poor maintenance of gold wells” in the area.

Mining accidents are rife in the giant Central African country, especially at small, artisanal sites. Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi, who was governor of South Kivu before M23 took over, confirmed there had been a collapse at the mine but did not provide a death toll.

--Reuters--